Tacker (Arizona Vengeance #5)(70)

“Thank you for believing in me. For giving me a chance to stay on this team. And most importantly, for making me get counseling. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have met Nora.”

He nods again.

“One other thing,” I say.

Dominik waits patiently.

“Willow’s flying back this weekend. Dax says she’s going to stay with him and Regan for a few weeks.”

Eyes flaring, his lips curl with pure carnal delight. “Thank you,” he says with almost a slight bow. “If anyone asks, you’re totally my favorite player on the team.”

I grin, not feeling the slightest bit sorry in revealing that info. Dominik was going to figure it out when Willow came to the games and Vengeance events, anyway.

Yeah… he’s a good dude in my opinion. I watch him for a moment as he walks away before I’m jolted back to reality.

Nora.

She’s waiting on me, and I’m more than ready to see her.





CHAPTER 30




Nora


“That’s good, Emily,” I call as I watch the nine-year-old take Starlight around the arena in a perfect canter. She’s been taking lessons from us for only about four months, but she’s such a natural.

Switching my attention to Raul, where he’s standing on the other side of the fence, I study him. He has his forearms resting on the top post, one booted foot on the lower rung. He smiles, proud to see Emily’s progress. The little girl works with both Raul and me, depending on availability since so much of my time these days is devoted to my counseling patients. But I’m light on that today, and I love just being able to teach kids to ride.

Brings back so many fond memories of Raul teaching me everything I know about horses and how to sit them properly.

How to love them.

So much of what I am today is because of the man on the other side of the paddock fence.

I glance down at my watch. There’s still a lot I have to do today, and Emily’s lesson will be done soon. Her mom is waiting for her in the car, preferring to talk on the phone rather than watch.

After this lesson, I’m going to help Raul rearrange our storage room to make room for a feed delivery, then I have to tackle the chicken coops to clean them out. Normally, Raul does that, but I’ve sort of been babying him since his illness last week.

I’ve had to be surreptitious doing this, though, so he doesn’t catch on. For example, I can’t just go to him and say, “Raul… I’m going to clean the coops today rather than you because I’m afraid for your health.”

If I did that, he’d be beyond pissed.

So this morning, I’d instead said, “Raul… can you take my ten and eleven AM lessons today? They’re both having issues with saddle positioning. No matter how much I work with them on it, I can’t get it corrected. I know I’m missing something.”

I truly have no clue if he bought the lie, but he told me no problem. I didn’t bother telling him I’d do the coops instead, preferring to just knock it out now and tell him that I felt useless doing nothing later.

At any rate, after the coops, I’m going to shower, change, and then head into Phoenix. Tacker has an afternoon game which I’m going to go to, and then after, we have plans to go out to dinner.

Correction… we’re going out to a fancy dinner.

Tacker told me to dress to the nines, which… I honestly don’t remember the last time I did that.

It’s not easy dating a professional hockey player. Between his travel and my hectic schedule, having nice dates out has been a near impossibility.

Not that I’m complaining.

I’m simply happy to be spending any time with Tacker, a man I have come to care so deeply for that I’m worried my heart has been irrevocably stolen.

“Okay, Emily,” I instruct in a clear voice. “Bring it down to a trot.”

When she complies, I let her do one loop around.

“Over to Raul,” I state, and she perfectly slows the horse to a walk, guiding it to the gate where Raul has moved to meet her.

I walk that way as well, letting him help her dismount. Raul will change up horses before the next lesson to give Starlight a rest.

Emily runs over to me, then throws her arms around my waist. “That was a great lesson. My canter’s getting good, isn’t it?”

“So good,” I praise, giving her a squeeze in return. She beams, which solidifies my hunch that she doesn’t get a lot of emotional support or comfort at home. Her parents seem distinctly uninterested in her.

It makes me appreciate Helen all the more. Even though it wasn’t necessary, Helen came to all my lessons with Raul for probably that entire first year. After we’d developed a close friendship with him, she’d often drop me off for lessons and Raul would give me a lift home. But even after I’d been riding for years, Helen would often come just to watch me.

She’d occasionally join me, but she wasn’t much of a horsewoman. Much the same way I can just tell Tacker will never be much of a horseman.

Sure, he’s gotten comfortable with them to the extent he can maneuver them in and out of stalls, and he’s not intimidated by their size, but he’s never going to feel fully comfortable in the saddle.

I can just tell.

We went on our ride yesterday when he made it out to the ranch after an impromptu team meeting, and while he had a good time—we both did—he’s just not going to love these animals the way I do.